Demon and Interference (2)
Dahong and Noeul silently watched the scene from atop the sand dune. Dahong grinned.
“How was it?”
“What.” Noeul pouted in reply.
“Fun, right?”
“……”
Honestly, Noeul had debated jumping in several times. There had been a few razor-thin crises. But in the end, those kids pulled it off. It was the kind of scene that left her gripping with sweat. There was even a strange thrill in watching them surpass their limits and grow.
“Not particularly.”
But Noeul's lips, unwilling to admit it, spat out a curt response.
“But you think it's impressive.”
“Hm.”
Noeul looked down toward the base of the dune. The boss's corpse. A massive scorpion brimming with A-rank mana. The group was gathered around Seha, cheering in joy. The vibe was uplifting enough to get even her blood pumping as she watched.
But there was something she needed to confirm first. Why had this happened all of a sudden? Noeul's gaze shifted to Dahong. An immeasurable demon. If anyone could interfere with a gate, this demon was the first one to suspect.
‘……’
But Noeul soon shook her head.
‘No.’
Dahong hadn't done a thing since entering the gate. No meddling in the fights, no mana usage. If anything, when Seha was in danger, she'd stopped Noeul from stepping in. Would she beef up the boss just to nearly let her own summoner die? It didn't make a lick of sense.
Of course, she knew this demon wasn't exactly right in the head…
‘…But given this demon's personality, she'd probably call that no fun.’
Artificially tweaking the boss to make it a nail-biter they could just barely win? That was rigged gambling, no different from a game where you already knew the outcome.
But then who? Noeul pulled her staff from the sand, unable to find an answer.
“Gotta report to Seoyeun. Someone definitely interfered with this gate.”
“Do whatever.”
Dahong shrugged indifferently. Noeul started down the dune. The sky was on its knees—completely out of mana. Dahong stayed behind alone on the hill, quietly watching Noeul's retreating back. Her footprints marking the sand as she descended. And below, Seha and the group celebrating.
Dahong turned her gaze. Far off, beyond the dune, behind the rubble of a collapsed stone building. Something was watching her. Small, round, and damp. A human eye.
An irritating, bug-like gaze clinging to her. It had seen Seha's battle. Ruby's flames. The boss fight. Even Dahong holding Noeul back.
Dahong stared blankly at the eyeball. Then she casually flicked her hand.
Pop.
A small, moist something burst with a sound.
“……Ugh!”
A woman clutched her eyes and dropped to her knees.
“Eloise?”
“Sorry, Belzar-nim. She spotted me.”
“Heh… As expected of my love.”
The boy hopped up from the bench.
“It's fine. She probably knew from the start anyway?”
“Belzar-nim?”
“Can't wait any longer. Gotta go meet my love right now.”
Belzar walked toward the gate, hands clasped behind his back.
In front of the gate. Two agency staff manned the booth. A lazy afternoon.
Tap. Tap.
Small footsteps approached. A staffer turned to see a boy in shorts drawing near.
“Hey? Kid, this is dangerous. You can't come in.”
The staffer reached out to block him. Belzar looked up. Red eyes fixed on the man.
“Mind getting out of the way?”
An innocent smile. The light faded from the staffer's eyes.
“……”
The second staffer was the same. The moment their eyes met the boy's, their gazes dulled, and they stood there blankly. Belzar hummed a tune as he positioned himself before the gate. The rippling blue light reflected in his eyes.
“Wait for me, my love.”
Belzar stepped into the rift. Eloise followed, wiping the blood from her eyes. The gate's fissure trembled briefly before settling back into its blue glow.
Inside the gate. The area around the boss corpse buzzed with energy.
“Where's the manastone? Near the head?”
“Scorpions have it in the torso center. Between the carapace here.”
Dohyeon pried at the gap with his dagger, and a red gem popped out.
“There!”
“Ooh~! Check the size!”
Mansu whistled. A watermelon-sized manastone was embedded there.
“Huge for a D-rank stone?”
“Worth all the hard work.”
Jisu carefully extracted the manastone.
“This'll fetch a nice price. Good job, everyone.”
Jin-ho and Harin were detaching the stinger from the tail.
“Stinger usable as material?”
“This tough? Gotta be good for something.”
“Don't burst the poison gland. Might sell for alchemy ingredients.”
Noeul advised as she approached. Haneul was chugging water nearby.
“Alchemy… yeah, probably.”
“It's an irregular. Research value for sure.”
Jin-ho and Harin nodded. Sniff sniff.
Ruby shoved her nose into the cracked carapace. Through the fissures, chunks of the boss's roasted flesh peeked out, golden-brown. It honestly smelled appetizing. A bit like crab meat…
Ruby stuck out her pink tongue and licked her chops. She looked ready to tear into the meat any second.
Seha spotted it and scooped her up.
“No way. What if something happens after you eat it.”
“Nyao.”
“Looks fine to me. It's grilled.”
Dahong's voice came from nearby.
“Dahong-ssi!”
Seha greeted her with a bright smile.
“You saw? We took down the boss!”
“Yeah. Good job.”
“Hehe, what rank do you think? Definitely not D.”
“Around A-rank.”
“Really? Wow… How'd we even beat it?”
“Think of it as a giant baby. It didn't know how to use its body properly yet.”
“A giant baby…”
Dahong sidled up beside Seha and crossed her arms. Seha slowly turned her head. Everyone was excitedly dismantling the boss. They probably wouldn't haul all the materials themselves. They'd need heavy equipment for that.
“……?”
Wait.
“What did you just say?”
Dahong gazed at the boss and repeated herself.
“A giant baby.”
“How does a scorpion turn into a giant?”
“Someone must've made it one. It can't become a giant on its own.”
That made sense. A normal person couldn't suddenly become a giant. A monster from a D-rank gate couldn't jump to A-rank out of nowhere. Not even a boss.
The Armored Bone Knight they'd fought before had been slightly over its expected grade too. Thinking back now, it had been the demilich's undead servant. Maybe something like a demilich was lurking here as well.
The realization chilled him to the core.
“E-everyone!”
Seha called out urgently.
“Yeah?”
Everyone paused and looked his way.
“Let's get out for now! The boss getting this strong is an anomaly. We can grab materials later—report to the agency first, yeah?”
Jisu's expression hardened. In the excitement, she'd forgotten, but Seha was right. The boss's unnatural strengthening. The abnormal monster density. Something was interfering with this gate.
“Right. Materials later—let's get out of—”
“You surprised me.”
A voice came from overhead. A childish tone.
Everyone froze and looked up. Someone stood atop the boss's corpse. A child. Jet-black hair. Red eyes. White shorts and brown loafers. An outfit that clashed completely with the gate's interior.
Silence fell in the mismatched situation.
‘Since when…?’
No one had noticed.
The boy prodded the corpse with his toe, as if out for a stroll.
“These bugs took it down? Really? Hmm…”
A pressure leagues beyond the boss crushed the group. Seha realized instinctively.
‘This guy's the one.’
The culprit behind the boss's boost.
“Amazing~. How'd you do it? Ah, is this why my love took an interest?”
“Your love?”
“……”
Someone reacted to the words. Dahong. She scowled.
“You again.”
Her voice dripped with annoyance. The boy looked at Dahong. Red eyes met red eyes. A radiant smile spread across the boy's face.
“My love! Found you!”
The boy waved his arms wildly from atop the corpse.
“I missed you! So~ much!”
“……”
“You vanished from hell out of nowhere—do you know how long I searched? Even came to the human world!”
Dahong didn't reply. Instead, she glared at Belzar with eyes full of irritation. Belzar didn't care.
“Still so cold! That's what I love!”
“Shut up.”
“Yes!”
The boy giggled. Then his gaze shifted to Seha.
“But who's the bug next to you?”
His mouth smiled, but his eyes didn't.
“My love's summoner? This?”
“……”
“Boring. Filthy.”
The smile slowly drained from the boy's face. The innocence from moments ago vanished like a lie.
“……”
Seha gulped without thinking. It felt like a snake slowly tightening around his throat.
As Seha's jaw shivered and he opened his mouth to speak—
Tsk.
A tongue click sounded. It was Noeul. She slammed her staff into the sand and approached the boy.
“You.”
A low voice.
“Who are you. How'd you get in here.”
The boy blinked. As if only just noticing her.
“Huh? You're pretty strong for a bug?”
Pow!
In place of an answer, the boy's left shoulder exploded. His arm spun through the air and flew off. Thud. It landed in the sand. No spell had been visible.
Silence.
Noeul adjusted her staff's aim from the shoulder to the head.
“Next one's the head.”
An emotionless voice. The boy stood there, armless.
“……Huh?”
Then he tilted his head. Like he'd found a curious toy.
In that instant—
Boom!
Something burst from the side. A woman in a dark robe. Noeul reflexively swung her staff to block. Clang! A shockwave kicked up sand.
“…Kuh!”
A light groan. Noeul glanced down. The woman gripped a twisted knife straight out of some ritual.
‘Black mage! An S-rank one!’
Scrape, whoosh! Noeul shoved the woman back and swung her staff. The woman leaped lightly to stand protectively behind the boy.
“Are you alright, Belzar-nim?”
“Huh? Oh, this? Fine, fine.”
Somehow, the boy's arm had regrown perfectly. As if it had never been severed. The boy looked at Dahong.
“My love.”
“……”
“Wanna play together again? Like back in hell?”
Dahong's expression chilled.
“Belzar.”
Dahong called the boy's name.
“You wanna die again?”
“…Aha.”
The boy grinned from ear to ear.